Rockbar liquor license denied by city

The scene in the Rockbar could turn dark – as in, lights out – if the city and bar owner Jesse Moreale don’t come to an agreement in November. (Denver Post)

Denver restaurateur Jesse Morreale knew the city of Denver would issue its verdict on his bar Rockbar’s liquor license on Monday morning.

But he anticipated a different outcome.

The city denied the hipster bar’s application for a liquor license renewal.

“This was a total shock,” said Morreale. “The depth of how outrageous this is is shocking to me. The matter was started without any foundation or basis anyway, and the fact that it has escalated to this point is astounding. But I have no intent to allow the city agencies, I don’t care who they are, to abuse their position, their authority, to be oppressive and over-reaching. A this point I would not shy from calling what they are doing citywide to me and my properties predatory.”

As it stands now, Rockbar can keep pouring drinks until Nov. 7. Between now and then, at least one thing will be banned.

Dancing.

“It is against the law for someone to dance in the Rockbar, as of today,” he said. “For real. This is what I am dealing with.”

Morreale said he plans to appeal the liquor-license decision. He said 280 households within 500 feet of Rockbar signed a petition saying the bar was not a neighborhood nuisance; the petition was presented to Tom Downey, the director of the city’s Department of Excise and Licenses.

Downey explained dancing is not banned in Rockbar. The bar, however, cannot showcase any sort of live entertainment, and cannot have a dance floor. This stems from the cabaret license, which is yoked to the liquor license; without a liquor license, you can’t have a cabaret license. Downey’s office decided to extend Rockbar’s liquor license for a month, to give employees time to hunt for new jobs and prepare for a possible closing, but the office did not feel compelled to extend the cabaret license, too.

The final order is rough on Rockbar.

It refers to the “sheer volume of police calls and crime reports” associated with the bar. It says the licensee – Morreale – “knowingly” permitted “acts of disorderly conduct” by allowing “rowdiness, undue noise, or other disturbances or activity offensive to the senses of the average citizen, or to the residents of the neighborhood in which the licensed establishment is located.”

In addition, Downey said the Rockbar’s liquor license, called a “hotel and restaurant” license (a remnant from the old days, when most restaurants in Colorado were affiliated with hotels), requires the licensee to generate at least 25 percent of gross revenue from food, but Rockbar wasn’t even coming close.

Jousting with city officials has grown familiar to Morreale. Earlier this year the city shut down his Broadway Ave. restaurant El Diablo. The building, the city said, needed too much work to bring it up to code. Morreale and the city are still working out the details on that property. For now, at least, the restaurant is open again.

“The matter is still unresolved with the city and I and my team still have to put an immense amount of effort and energy into getting the city to participate in figuring out how to bring that matter to a final resolution that is fair, appropriate and achievable,” said Morreale. “If I were a paranoid person, this would begin to look like a coordinated effort, multi-agency and citywide, to inflict severe direct economic injury to me and my businesses and my employees.”

Morreale said he employs “hundreds” of people through his restaurants, which also includes Sketch.